Shank-stiffener for boots or shoes



(No Model.)

` W. GORDON. SHANKSTIPFBNBR FOR BOOTS OB. SHOES.

I N0..372,140. Patented 'Ol'.s'.r 25, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM GORDON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHA'NKr-STIFFENER FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,140, dated October 25, 1857.

'Application filed March 25, 1887. Serial No. 232,397. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it-known that I, WILLIAM GORDON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shank Pieces for Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a shank-piece for boot or shoe soles, Which shall be at once cheap and strong andcapable of retaining any curvature that may be imparted to it.

The invention consists in a shank-piece composed of a strip of leather-board and a stiftening-rod of malleable or untempered metal capable of retaining any form into which it may be bent, said rod being bent and pointed at its ends to form spurs whereby the rod is attached to the leather-,board strip, said rod being molded or bent with the leatherboard .strip into any desired curvature and keeping said strip permanently curved.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication, Figure Irepresents a side viewv of my improved shank-piece. Fig. 2 represents a section on line :v x, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a section on line y y, Fig. I. Fig. 4 represents a perspective view of the stiening'rod.

In carrying out my invention I form a shanky piece, a, of leather-board, the under side of the piecebeing preferably beveled along its edges, as usual, to bring the entire margin of the piece to a thin edge. I then take a rod, b, of any suitable malleable metal without temper,using, by preference, untempered steel, and point and bend the ends thereof to for-1n spurs b b', about at right angles with the body of the rod. I then lpress the spurs b b into the under side of the leather-board piece a until the body of the rod is in close contact with said piece, and preferably somewhat embedded'therein, sufficient pressure being employed to indent the leatherboard and cause the rod to form for .itself a cavity therein, as shown in Fig. 3. The spurs b b are turned or clinched at their points by contact with a suitable metallic clinching-surface while they are being driven in, the rod being thus firmly united to the leather-board. After this the piece a and rod b may be molded or bent into any desired curvature, which is made perma-v nent by the malleability of the rod. The rod is so thick and strong that it cannot be broken by any pressure to which it is liable to be subjected when in a boot Or shoe, such as the pressure that would be exerted by the wearers foot on a spade or like implement; hence the improved shank is particularly useful in boots or shoes such as are worn by laborers,

` its combined cheapness and strength render ing it particularly desirable for such purposes.

My invention is distinguished from a leatherboard shank having a piece of springsteel riveted to it-such as has been before knOwn-by the fact that the metal portion is malleable and not springy, and is therefore capable of retaining the shank in any desired curvature, while the spring-piece is limited to the curvatu reOri ginally im parted to it before tempering.

I claim- The herein-described shank, composed of a strip of leather-board having a rod Of malleable metal embedded therein, said rod having spurs formed on its ends inserted and clinched in the leatherboard strip, and curved with the 

